


Realistically, I Can't Leave Now

by Santeria



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: But also like no burn, Cowboy AU, Enemies to Lovers, Gavin Reed is a Little Shit, Ghost Connor, M/M, What more can I say, Wild West AU, at least in this chapter, connor is also a little shit, connor is dead rip, cowboy gavin reed, do i tag this as major character death?, ghost au, i mean yea connor is... dead but like..... hes been dead... but hes....a ghost, ill add more specic tags later, no beta we die like men, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:34:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21758389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Santeria/pseuds/Santeria
Summary: Outlaw Gavin Reed is on the run from many, many things. He comes across a small town that doesn't seem to know his bounty. The townspeople welcome him with open arms but warn him of a certain haunted chapel he mustn't enter.Being the bullhead he is, he enters anyways, and ends up attracting some otherworldly attention.(Aka Cowboy Gavin / Ghost Connor)[D I S C O N T I N U E D]
Relationships: Connor/Gavin Reed
Comments: 8
Kudos: 32





	Realistically, I Can't Leave Now

**Author's Note:**

> He was a cowboy he was a ghost. Can I make it anymore obvious?

_Welcome to Polperro!_

Gavin rolls his eyes at the cheery welcome sign hailing him towards the town he’d discovered. The dull blue and red of the paint chipping off, looking almost as beat up as the houses and other structures beyond it. The town was small, quaint, not very much to look at and the only civilization for miles in the north end.

He stalls his horses canter to observe the town further but is met with resistance. He still had yet to break in the horse. Mostly because he had stolen it on his way here so the horse doesn’t like him too much, unfortunately.

But hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, especially when said man is on the run. He pulls harder on the reins and the horse stills, neighing in frustration.

“I know, I know girl,” he soothes, patting the horses coarse mane. He’d always had a soft spot for animals and typically got along with them better. He may have been good at getting people to like him, but people annoyed Gavin to no end. His facade of charm could only be held up for so long before he snapped on someone who didn’t even deserve it. 

He reflects on his brother constantly teasing him about being hot-headed when they were young. One day, Gavin had lost his temper a bit and gave him a black eye. Needless to say, his brother’s point was proven much to his own dismay. 

Grimacing on the bittersweet memory, he looks back to the town, notices a couple of folk staring curiously at his arrival. They must not get passerbys often. He gets an odd feeling from the rickety wooden buildings that seem to be half falling apart. He isn’t uppity by no means and its not the state the towns in that unsettles the outlaw. He doesn’t quite know what is putting him on edge but he enters anyway. He’s tired, out of rations, and his horse needs to rest.

So fuck it, he always seems to get out of situations alive anyways.

\-----

It doesn’t take long for him to please the people of Polperro and luckily the people are awfully nice, keeping his temper at bay. He guesses living in seclusion doesn't always call for an angry mob of pitchforks and torches when an outsider shows up.

He quickly realizes their isolation from the main cities also means no one knows him. Which is quite the relief considering the weight of his name and the bounty on his head.

_GAVIN REED. WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. $10,000 REWARD_

For some groups of people, he’s just wanted dead. 

Which he finds understandable. Gavin had been quite the pain in the ass for the more well known communities. He had some blood on his hands, given that blood wasn’t anything pure. Could say he’d be doing the world a favor in some cases.

But murder is murder. Sin is sin. Blah blah blah. Gavin didn’t really care.

He just knew he had a job to finish before he was shot by some rookie lawman with a lucky aim. And when that’s finished he could care less about who takes his life but he’s not quite to that point yet.

Usually he’d be wary of any authority in any town he’d visit. But thanks to the unawareness of the people, a lawman was actually able to help him out.

He’d been offered a place to stay the night just after a couple hours of sweet-talking and playing the ‘unfortunate traveler’ role. A nice man by the name of Ben Collins had listened to him chatter about his journey, minus the illegal things, and had taken a liking to him and most importantly pity.

He didn’t quite trust Gavin to sleep in his home, understandably so, but let him sleep in their barn.

Sure, it was dirty, rundown, smelled like horse shit, and would probably become very cold during the night but it was better than nothing

Ben had introduced Gavin to his family. A wife, two kids, and a dog. Very typical for small town folk, but something about the loving family made his heart warm. He couldn’t imagine himself ever settling down with his own wife and kids. Every woman he’s been with had been a lady of the night, and no offense to those hard-working gals, but they don’t seem like the marrying type either. 

The Collins family proved to be even more hospitable as his wife had invited Gavin over for lunch. 

Having not eaten in a couple days, he of course accepted the offer.

“So, Polperro, Y’all are a tiny little community, yeah?” Gavin had inquired 

“Mhm! No one really knows the history of our town. Y’know, why we are so far from everyone else ‘n such,” his wife, Loretta, had rambled on. Her voice was sweet and sincere, he could tell she enjoyed having guests over, especially ones she’d never met before. 

She places sweet bread roll on Gavin’s plate and he dutifully thanks her again. They talk aimlessly for a bit before her young daughter runs inside the house, crying and borderline hysterical.

Gavin has to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the kid or tell her to shut up all together. It's not like he inherently hates kids though, just the things they do. 

“Momma! Momma! I-I”

“‘Phelia! What’s the matter?” She rushes over to her, checking for anything wrong. The display reminded Gavin of when he was young. How his mother would constantly worry over his and his brother’s safety. They’d always get into trouble, almost getting killed lots of the times. If it weren’t for their mother's constant warnings they’d probably be dead, or maybe missing some limbs. He’s pulled out of the memory by the girls whining.

“I-I lost my ball in the old church!” Loretta adopts a serious expression at that, shaking her head and sighing, pondering on what to tell her.

“It’s gone now, ‘Phelia. Daddy can get you a new one for you and you sister to play with alright?”

The girl looks down in disappointment but nods her head. Loretta soon leads the girl back outside with another warning. _Don’t go in the church._

“So, what was that about?” Gavin probes in curiosity. Loretta gasps in realization and quickly sits down.

“Oh, my… You aren’t from here so I guess I should warn you,” quirking his eyebrow in interest, Gavin leans forward, crossing his arms.

“There's an old church south from here. Should be close to the post office. We-” she looks nervous, “There are some bad things in there Mr.Reed. No ones been in there for.. Well for years! Not my momma, nor her momma, nor _her_ momma! I ain't never seen a fella go in there and walk out the same man. Sometimes, I don’t seem them walk out at all.”

“With all due respect, ain’t that all just some folk-lore Mrs.Collins?” he asks skeptical as ever. He might’ve been a religious man, but never was the type to believe in ghosts or haunted buildings. It all seemed childish and unrealistic to him, but Loretta persisted.

“No, no! By the heavens, this is all very true, Mr.Reed. Everytime a traveler such as yourself comes through here and then enters the church, something horrible happened to them. They all say they might find something valuable in the building-” Loretta continues to ramble on about the stories of men, women and children who had wandered into the abandoned church. All Gavin could think about was the promise of _valuables_ though.

Being an outlaw, meant he kind of had to be money-hungry. How else would he pay off a bounty? Or get supplies? He only feels a tinge of guilt for zoning out on the woman’s words, her possible warnings. 

After a while, he leaves to go explore the town after thanking Loretta profusely for the meal. He passes by the daughter when leaving the house and she catches his attention.

“You’re not thinking about going the the church are you? I heard Momma warning you…”

“Kid, I’m not thinking about going,” he chuckles slightly, “I _am_ going.”

  
  


\---

  
  


Gavin slowly opens the rusted door of the church, scanning his surroundings for anything threatening. Sure, he didn’t believe the looney shit the townspeople had told him, but he couldn’t help but be wary. He thinks briefly of the large eyes of Ben’s daughter, staring at him in concern when he said he was going out the church. 

“C’mon Reed, stay focus,” he curses at himself, trying to ignore the coldness of the main chapel and how it made a shiver run up and down his spine. The church looked like any regular church, just old and run down, sure it made it more… unsettling but nothing he couldn’t handle. He notices a small ball on the center stage, sitting perfectly in the middle right under the large cross on the back wall. 

He figures its the girl’s ball, but doesn’t understand how the ball could get al the way to the cross. Either that ball bounced like hell, or the girl had arm strength like hell.

He didn’t question further when he goes to pick it up and pockets it so he can return it.

Honestly, he has no good reason to return it and he'd like to avoid all interaction with the kid in general, but why the Hell not do something a little nice. It's not like it'll kill him.

"Stupid snot-nosed brat, loosing her ball 'n shit."

He searches the building for a good hour. Finding nothing but old scriptures and maybe a rosary here and there. His frustration grows with each passing minute, occasionally kicking a wall in anger and then yelling in pain when the kick is too hard and hurts his toes.

_“_ Goddamn cheap ass boots. A man can’t even kick a wall in frustration!” 

He plops down on his ass in the center aisle of the chapel, lying down against the faded rug with oddly colored stains.

“You’re a dead man Gavin Reed,” he recites what Allen, one of the many goons who want his head on stick, had said to him before he made his grand escape to this stupid, noname town. He should’ve known such a shitpile of a civilization wouldn’t have any valuable loot. Soon, Allen and his brainwashed freaks would hunt him down and chop his balls off and then maybe, just maybe they’d have the humanity in them to kill him.

He scoffs, making the stagnant dust flow around in the air, “I’m soooo fucking dead”

_Really?_

And at that, he sits the fuck up. Who said that? He looks around frantically to find no one as a breeze tickles his cheek feeling like someone had walked briskly past him. 

He shakes his head, blaming it on his subconscious and some weird shit like trauma. Yeah. He heard trauma could cause him to hear things so that must-

_The cross_

This time, it was right in his ear, he could feel the breath, hands on his shoulders like someone was trying to guide him. 

Instead of freaking the fuck out and shootin’ up the place, he turns around, spinning in place on his ass to face the cross on the main stage. 

Standing there is a man wearing pristine, clean clothing. He’s very obviously not from Polperro, maybe he's from another state altogether. He’s very lanky but attractive in the uppclass, rich boy kind of way. He can’t see his face as he is facing the cross too, hand reached out for it.

The outlaw can’t seem to find the right words to say as he is, quite frankly, scared shitless. But before he can react, Gavin blinks and the man is gone.

“Shit, shit, shit shit!” He scrambles backwards on the floor only for his hand to knock over something behind him. He turns to see a small wooden box, that wasn't there before. The contents spilled out of it were nothing but a folded parchment paper and a rusted, silver coin, one unlike any he’s seen before. 

Gavin doesn't hesitate to grab the items before busting ass out of the church. As he exits, he feels the weight of dozens of eyes on him, but one presence is stronger than the others, as if it were his own eyes watching him.

Running down the cracked stone steps to the church he trips on the last one, falling but not getting up immediately. The pressure has passed and he feels somewhat safe. He breathes heavily, staring at the ground and trying to rationalize what he’d seen.

“I told you, Mr.Reed!”

“AH- Fuck, kid, why you gotta sneak up on a man like that?” his eyes meet with one of Ben’s daughter. He notices his hand resting dangerously on his gun. She doesn’t seem to notice or maybe doesnt care and runs up to his kneeled form, almost tripping over the dingy yellow dress she wore.

“Did you see anything? My momma tells me no one comes out alive! You’ve must’ve seen something Mr. Reed did-”

“Listen, uh-”

“Ophelia,” she supplies eagerly, practically bouncing in place

“Ophelia,” He stands, swatting at his dusty denim jeans to clear them of dirt. He struggles for a second on what to say, not wanting to deal with the child, especially since he’s still spooked from whatever the fuck he saw in there.  
  


He also doesn’t want to scare her either, children get nightmares and shit. He may not care much for or do well around kids, but he doesn’t want her to be even more scared than she already was of the damn church. He also wouldn’t like to admit to the child he’s scared out of his mind and possibly pissed himself a little too. 

God knows that his pride won’t let down even in the face of youth.

“I didn’t see anything its just,” damn he’s a bad liar, as if she didn’t see him run for his life a second ago. Why cant she just go leave him alone and play with some stupid sticks? Kids like sticks right? Maybe he should throw her a stick-

“I uh.. I found this coin,” he quickly pulls it out his pocket showing it to her. Her eyes go wide and she backs away slightly.

“I ain’t seen no coin like that around here… ever,” her voice is low, very suspicious of the silver object. Gavin inspects the coin himself. He knew he didn’t recognize it either but he didn’t realize it had no words on it. Just engraved drawings of swirls and concentric circles. It’s very odd now that he has the time and right headspace to look at it.

“Kid, how ‘bout you go run along. Look, I found your ball,” he pulls the toy out of his pocket and gives it to her. As she happily takes it and spews words of gratitude, he eyes the glassless windows of the church suspiciously, staring hard at it as if the man would appear in the window. To his relief, the fucker didn’t show. He tried to brush the whole incident off as sleep deprivation causing him to lose his mind.

Sticking his hands in his pockets and fiddling with the paper, his lips quirk into a half-smile as he looks back to Ophelia

“Hey, you don’t want no ghost following you, right? Take your ball and go home,” she shrieks and runs away, little feet carrying her as far as they could across the town. Gavin chuckles slightly.

A nightmare or two never hurt no one anyway.

\---

Gavin flops down on the makeshift bed he made for the night. The ragged blankets would be appalling to him years ago when he still, y'know, held his life to a higher standard.

Right now though, he couldn't be more relaxed.

It's been a long fucking day and despite all the shit that happened within it, he's willing to clear his mind and just pass out. 

Before he had gotten back to the barn, he had inspected the paper. It was a map with a location marked east of Polperro. He doesn’t know if it’s treasure or a trap, either way he's too impulsive to care and will probably pursue it anyway. If anything, he learned that his stupid obsession with money can really outweigh any warning sign if the church was enough of an example. 

He tries not to think too hard on what happened in the church, the hands on his shoulders, soft breath in his ear, the _man_. 

He peaks an eye open, sighing dramatically. He always seems to freak himself out in the middle of the night. He may have a valid reason to be hyper-aware, but he hopes the power of drowsiness can take over the paranoia.

_Long, slender legs, fancy get up, brown hair, soft voice, gone with the blink of an eye._

This time it's his horse that groans for him as if she could hear his thoughts.

"You'd be restless too if you were there with me, Girl," the horse whinnies and shakes her head. He takes that as a sign to go the fuck to bed.

He turns on his side, squeezing his eyes shut and in a few minutes he feels the tenseness leave his body.

Everything starts to feel warm as he drifts off to sleep, no matter how cold the barn is. His troubles begin to drift to the back of his mind. 

His crimes, Allen, his brother, the money he needs, the money he _owes,_ the man in the church

All he can think of is the blankness of the void that carries him somewhere where he simply is nothing, has nothing and doesn't need to do nothing. 

To be obsolete is where his happy place is and he's almost there as the faint, crisp wind outside the barn fades to nothing along with a voice that sounds soft, and cautious.

_Gavin._

He thinks it's his mother, sounds nothing of her, but it had a stern yet concerned tone. His mother would always scold him for getting into trouble, more than she would his brother. He thought she was playing favorites but he should've learned to appreciate the reprimand more.

Maybe it was the strictness that caused him to go less haywire than his brother. Don't get him wrong, he, by no means, is a saint

But Elijah, by every means, is practically the Devil.

_Gavin!_

There is was again, louder, out of place from the purgatory between conscious and unconsciousness. Too tangible to be his dream but he can't seem to care as he continues to fall down deeper, deeper, deeper-

"GAVIN!"

For the second time today, he sits the fuck up. This time, he's face to face with an unfamiliar man. 

Before Gavin really jumps into action, he takes in the mans face.

Pretty, clean, proportional, determined. It's a very stark contrast to his gruff, stubble laden, shocked face

He has dark brown hair styled so perfectly with only one curl hanging loose between his eyebrows. It seems to taunt Gavin as it just hangs between them so poised just like its owner. Light freckles are scattered across the mans face and his expression is turning impatient. Despite his sudden appearance and the fact that the guy knows his fucking name, he thinks the man is utterly breathtaking.

That being said, he doesn't hesitate to pull out his gun and put a bullet through him.

"That's _Reed_ to you, Motherfucker!"

But Gavin is left mouth hanging open as the bullet goes right through the guy. The bullet hole in his chest swirls around and is contorted like the pattern on the coin he found before it closes up. No blood, no pain.

So he shoots again.

And again

And again

And then he's out of bullets, probably woke up the entire town, and scared all the horses. 

At this point, shock has overtaken fear and exhaustion has overtaken shock.

"Okay, dickhead, who are you and what do you want?"

The other man tilts his head and only then does Gavin noticed his eyes are… unsettling to say the least. Gavin can't seem to find light in his eyes as he sees in everyone else there is no person. No _soul._ It disturbs Gavin and makes his recently stunningly attractive face seem more like a disfigured monster but he still finds it intrguing.

Gavin regards his clothes too.

Black high waisted slacks, white dress shirt, stupidly large sleeves, fancy shoes, a necklace with no emblem.

And then it clicks before the other can respond.

"Wait, you're that fucker from the church! What are you?" 

The other man stares blankly at him. Eyes so empty boring into his sin-filled ones. For a second he envies the fact that he could embody nothing but still be something.

"I'm dead, obviously," he rolls his deep brown eyes and the ominous mood is broken quickly.

"Ah, okay. So I reckon you're here to possess me or some ghost shit like that, huh?" Gavin is half-joking when he says that.

On one hand, he doesn't really like the idea of having something else takes control of his body. One the other hand though, he doesn't want to control his own life anymore. He figures maybe someone else will make better choices for him. 

"No, you pathetic outlaw," he bites out, very quickly changing moods, "My coin, I want it back."

The deadman stands abruptly crossing his arms trying to seem serious. Gavin would say the action was cute if he weren't dealing with the dead and if the dead wasn't such a prick.

Gavin stands to match the other man's attitude, "Hey! Calm down, asshole!” He points a finger at his chest which just goes right through the guy, Gavin tries to brush it off even though it felt like he just stuck his finger in ice, “Were you not the one that basically gave me the coin?" 

"That wasn't me! Other spirits dwell in the-" he groans, clearly frustrated and… uncomfortable? 

Before anything else can be said, Ben bursts through the barn door. With him comes a gust of wind that seems to carry the ghost away with it as the other man just disappears.

"What in the hell was all the ruckus, Reed?!"

"Uhh," he looks down to his boot and kicks it around, thinking of something that isn't crazy like _'A ghost is bothering me 'cause I took a coin from the haunted church y'all told me not to go into'_

"I saw… a rat"

"A rat?"

"Yes, sir. A rat. He was a big fella, y’know"

Ben's eye twitches in annoyance but thank God for his hospitality as he just closes the barn doors while muttering some swears under his breath, basically bidding him a warning.

_Oh, so I'm a rat?_

Gavin jumps, startled by the voice but not seeing the man again. 

Clenching his teeth he whisper yells as to not get kicked out of the barn by disturbing his hosts, "You want your stupid coin? Just take it!"

He throws the coin on the ground, waiting for the man to reappear but it doesn't happen.

_Bring it back to the church by dawn. I will not be patient._

He feels a squeeze to his shoulders that is tight and constricting that makes his heart stutter in fear. Then a sudden and intense fatigue that nearly made him drop down to the floor graces his person.

As he slowly descends back down to the floor, he thinks of the spirits face. Despite the threatening aura its displaying over him, he can't help but fall asleep dreaming of the brown eyes that seemed so empty but displayed everything behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> Aight so I literally wrote this in one night and yes I know I have another fic I have not updated but yknow..... life happens.
> 
> Anyways theres not enough cowboy au's and I was really itching to write this.
> 
> Hope y'all liked it!


End file.
